Research Interests

Intersections of gender, race, and class; families and education; care work; labor market inequalities; research methods; and social policy.

Education

Ph D: Joint Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy, (2004), Brandeis University - Heller School for Social Policy - Waltham, MADissertation/Thesis Title: "One Hundred Years of Buying Care: Gender, Race, and Market Carework in the Twentieth Century"

MA: Social Policy, (2001), Brandeis University - Waltham, MA

BA: Social Stratification, (1992), Washington University - St. Louis, MO

Biography

Mignon Duffy’s primary research interests center around care work – the work of taking care of others, including children and those who are elderly, ill or disabled. She is particularly interested in how the social organization of care intersects with gender, race, class and other systems of inequality. Her first book, Making Care Count: One Hundred Years of Gender, Race, and Paid Care Work, combines quantitative, historical, and interpretive methods to analyze the emergence and organization of care work occupations in health care, education, child care, and social services. She is a co-editor of Caring on the Clock: The Complexities and Contradictions of Paid Care, which collects cutting edge research across a range of care work occupations. Duffy is also the co-chair of the Carework Network, a national organization of care work researchers and advocates. Her research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Gender & Society and Social Problems. Committed to connecting her research to policy, Duffy has worked in collaboration with other UMass researchers to document the care sector in Massachusetts as a tool for policymakers.

Since coming to UMass Lowell in 2004, Duffy has been an Associate of the Center for Women and Work (CWW) and currently serves as its Associate Director. As the Founding Director of the Emerging Scholars Program, she works to match selected undergraduate students of the FAHSS College with faculty and support them in a year-long research collaboration. In 2013, the University recognized Duffy for her dedication to engaged teaching by awarding her the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Service Learning Award. Duffy has also been involved in a number of interdisciplinary programs, including Gender Studies and Labor Studies. She loves teaching research methods to sometimes reluctant students, and also enjoys teaching gender, feminist theory, and social policy courses.